Early start to Thanksgiving recess is approved

The Academic Council at the University of Notre Dame has approved a change to the University calendar that will make the day before Thanksgiving a part of the Thanksgiving holiday recess for students beginning next fall.

The change was approved Dec. 12 on the recommendation of a committee that was commissioned to study academic calendar issues. The day will remain a regular work day for University employees.

In order to maintain the required number of 70 class days in the fall semester, the number of reading days at the end of the semester will be reduced by one, meaning that the last classes of the term will be on a Thursday instead of a Wednesday.

The Provosts Academic Calendar Committee determined by a variety of measures that possibly as many as half of the Universitys undergraduates do not attend classes on the day before Thanksgiving anyway, and many faculty members feel pressured to cancel classes by students who want to get an early start on travel to often-distant locations during the most difficult travel day of the year.

The Academic Council noted that some adjustments may be required to accommodate laboratory requirements and other circumstances unique to specific parts of the University, but it concluded that the balance of the arguments favored the change.